Government Owned/Contractor Operated Heritage

Industrial, academic, and nonprofit organizations have historically managed the U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories and other major government owned/contractor operated (GOCO) facilities.

A GOCO partnership allows each partner to perform duties for which it is uniquely suited: the government establishes mission areas, and the private sector implements the missions, using best business practices.

Historical perspective

During the Manhattan Project, the federal government asked the University of California to operate what is now Los Alamos National Laboratory. A new model for managing R&D labs was born: the government owned the laboratory site, the buildings, and the equipment; the University provided the employees and managers.

The GOCO model has been replicated many times in the subsequent decades, primarily within the DOE and its predecessor agencies. Sixteen of the seventeen DOE laboratories are GOCO institutions. Sandia National Laboratories was managed by Sandia Corporation 1949-2017, and in 2017, transitioned to management by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc. Originally a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Electric, Sandia Corporation was a Lockheed Martin company from 1993-2017.

Advantages

GOCO allows proven private-sector processes to operate without bureaucratic restrictions. Scientists and engineers performing for a GOCO contractor are largely insulated from political pressures. Thus, they have the independence to speak out as honest brokers, acting truly in the national interest.

Contacts

"... the GOCO management relationship has been a major factor in
maintaining high-quality scientific and technical personnel in the
Laboratories and in accomplishing major missions of national importance
at the Laboratories."—Secretary of Energy Advisory Board's Report to the Secretary, July 1992

Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525.